6 brutalized bodies are discovered in Tijuana

TIJUANA, Mexico — Police discovered the tortured and burned bodies of six men in an empty lot Monday morning, ending a two-month period of relative calm in this border city's war on organized crime.

An additional five bodies were discovered since Saturday in violence believed to be drug related, including a woman whose body was found stuffed in a barrel, said state and federal authorities.

The weekend tally pushed the city's death toll this year to more than 260, compared to about 152 homicides at this time last year, and underscored the Mexican government's ongoing troubles reining in organized crime.

None of the victims had been identified by late Monday, and authorities did not confirm any motives for the killings. But the grisly nature of the deaths -- some had their heads wrapped in plastic, and some were charred from burns -- suggested that they were the victims of gangsters, authorities said.

The city had remained relatively quiet since a wild shootout in April claimed the lives of 14 gunmen. That incident, police sources say, possibly stemmed from a feud between rival branches of the Arellano Felix drug cartel, which has controlled drug trafficking in the city for more than a decade.